Chapter 181 — Unable to be Eaten (2)
11 min read ·
In the original novel, the Eater of Dreams swallowed Yoo Jonghyuk, struggled against the terrible life that Yoo Jonghyuk suffered and eventually disappeared. It was a disaster caused by overeating. However, this was the story in Ways of Survival.
It wasn’t the 136th regression that he would eat this time.
[ Kuooooooh....! ]
The third regression, the fourth regression, the fifth regression...
「 “Do you know what will happen if humans live for thousands of years?” 」
The 36th regression, the 47th regression, the 69th regression...
「 “Have you ever thought about the pain of an endlessly repeating life?” 」
The 141st regression, the 143rd regression, the 148th regression...
「 “This is human suffering. You damn tentacles bastard.” 」
There was a feast of memories that never ended. Cracks started to spread through the engorged space. After eating what shouldn’t be eaten, the crazy Eater of Dreams started to riot.
However, he had no place to go because this was his stomach. No one could escape from themselves.
[ Kuooooooh! ]
The flood of words was larger than what he could handle.
The stories that weren’t absorbed flew away and the flood of stories swept over the outer universe like waves. The wreckage of the damaged stomach scattered.
The Fourth Wall is slowly opening its eyes.]
[The Fourth Wall is searching for something to eat.]
The startled Eater of Dreams stared at me.
[The Fourth Wall laughs at the Eater of Dreams.]
Now the relationship between predator and prey had changed.
[Kuaaaaah...]
The Fourth Wall, which was made up of many letters, started to swallow the stories of the Eater of Dreams.
It was purely hungry eating, without caring about gourmet food. The countless fish and other symbols of the Eater of Dreams tried to flee, but it couldn’t escape from the persistent wall.
The stories that he had eaten for 8,000 years were crushed to powder and sucked into the wall. The patterns on the wall emitted a bright light.
The voice of the unauthorized guy who read the story was shocked.
[■■...?]
More than half his thoughts had been consumed and they appeared on the wall.
「 Surely this isn’t ■■....? 」
[ Ohhhh... ]
「The great old ones! Where are all of you? 」
At the last moment, he tried to abandon everything and run, but the Fourth Wall was one step faster. The wall exposed its terrible teeth and swallowed the contents of the stomach.
[ Ohhh... great old... ohhhh. ]
There was a dazzling light and the open mouth of the wall finally closed.
[The Fourth Wall has finished eating.]
[You have defeated an outer god!]
.
.
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[The Star Stream has failed to find a suitable name for your achievement.]
[An unknown achievement will be added to your fifth story.]
[Your status, which was about to be confirmed, will be re-evaluated.]
The fragments of the Eater of Dreams scattered and I remained in the void of the outer universe with a few stories.
The space didn’t collapse even though the Eater of Dreams was dead. I still hadn’t returned to my original world.
[The gods of the outer universe are greatly confused after hearing of the death of Eater of Dreams.]
[The outer gods are trying to figure out what happened in his scenario.]
[Some ‘great old beings’ are watching you.’]
A feeling of nausea rose inside me. Perhaps it was because my spirit had been eaten but I felt weakened.
“Heok, heok... kueeek!”
It was a horrible experience. Yoo Jonghyuk had done this in the 136th regression.
“Kueeeek!”
After vomiting a few times, I searched through the fragments of the story for my mother.
Fortunately, the image formed by Eater of Dreams was preserved. She stood there with closed eyes.
Was she still alive? I didn’t know. I tested my mother’s pulse and shook her shoulders. “Please wake up.”
First, I had to take my mother out of here. I looked around.
...Why wasn’t this space broken?
In the 136th regression, there was the scene where Yoo Jonghyuk killed the Eater of Dreams, this space collapsed and he returned to the original world. The outer universe was operated with the power of the outer god. Once the outer god died, it should be broken. This time, the outer god died but his space was still maintained. Why?
[The Fourth Wall is looking at you.]
...Don’t tell me?
[The Fourth Wall shakes her head with regret.]
[The Fourth Wall is still hungry.]
It ate so many stories yet it was still hungry?
[The Fourth Wall has started to suck the remaining remnants.]
It was as if a vacuum cleaner was turned on as the Fourth Wall opened its mouth and started to suck in the rest of the surroundings.
The remaining stories, the dust and...
“Wait! Wait!”
Even my mother who was in my arms. I flew towards the wall.
“Hey! Don’t eat that!”
Before I could reach the wall, my mother was sucked into it. The mouth devoured my mother’s head, arms and torso.
“Shit! I told you not to eat that!”
[The Fourth Wall is laughing with satisfaction.]
[The Fourth Wall is licking its lips as it looks at you.]
I had to ask something. There was something I hadn’t heard yet. Yet this damn wall had swallowed my mother.
What happened after being swallowed by the wall? I didn’t know. One thing was for certain, none of the beings eaten by the wall had returned.
The Theatre Dungeon’s master, the reincarnator Nirvana and even the Eater of Dreams...
Was there any possibility of my mother surviving when even an outer god couldn’t survive?
“Spit her out!”
I started punching the Fourth Wall. The wall licked its lips towards me but showed no signs of eating me. The surface of the wall faintly shook at my punch.
Punch and punch again. I knew it was foolish but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop. How much did I hit the wall? Then a message appeared on the wall.
「 First, I remember when I gave that child a name. 」
I stared blankly at the sentence. I realized what it meant after a short time.
「 He wanted to use Dok (alone) and I wanted Dok (reader). Maybe it was from here that he and I became different. 」
I groaned and hit the wall. I never wanted to hear the story this way.
「 I wanted him to be a reader rather than a lonely person. As long as they read something, humans won’t be lonely. I probably wanted to believe this. 」
As soon as my punches stopped, countless sentences appeared on the wall. I couldn’t believe how many sentences there were in a person’s lifetime.
「 “I should stay at home? Huh? Why should I live like this? How long do I have to live while supporting you and that child!” 」
「 “Sookyung, you have to endure it. Think of Dokja. The man will only do it for a moment.” 」
「 “Mother, I think you should pay attention to Dokja.” 」
I cursed and started beating on the wall again. There were some things I remembered but some things I didn’t. Still, the feelings of those days were vivid.
「 It was hard. At the time, I was so tired that I couldn’t think of anything else. When I thought about it, it was just as hard for my child. 」
My mother had suffered in those days. Violence against a woman, a mother and a person, it should never be done.
「 “Dokja. Get in here. Understood? Don’t come out until Mother says you can.” 」
The merciless words continuously appeared and I once again suffered my childhood from another point of view.
It sounded like a completely strange story, despite it being something I had experienced personally.
This was what happened. It was so painful. It was miserable. By the way, why had I forgotten all of this? Did I just want to forget?
Meanwhile, the wall continued to speak.
「 I should’ve left him. No matter what other people said, I should’ve taken that child and gone to a distant place. 」
She should’ve left in the end.
「 Why didn’t I? 」
It was a record filled with remorse and regret. This was my mother, who was ‘silent’ in reality. Now she was opening her mouth when it was a novel.
「 It happened late in the evening. 」
Finally, the story began.
「 “Bring more alcohol!” 」
My father’s voice shouted to bring more alcohol. He pushed my mother and hit her stomach. My father was threatening.
「 “Y-You! Put down the knife and let’s talk!” 」
Slowly, the memories were coming back. The little boy hiding in the room stuck out his head. That’s right. At that time, my father was holding a knife and acting threatening.
「 “Dokja! I told you to stay in your room!” 」
My mother shouted and ran towards me. My drunk father swung the knife threateningly.
「 You will die and I will die as well. Eh? Should we all die? Aren’t we fucked up living together like this? Huh? Then let’s die together! 」
My mother threw her body forward. There was a sound and my father’s body collapsed. A knife dropped to the ground. Alcohol flowed from a rolling wine bottle. I knew the next scene. My mother would pick up the fallen knife and stab my father. Then she would tell me, ‘From now on, I will read all of this again.’
「 “U... Uwaaaack!” 」
By the way...
「 “Dokja. No! Put down that thing!” 」
What was this?
「 “Dokja!” 」
I picked up the knife and was trembling as I stared at my father. My small face was covered in tears. My father laughed mockingly and swung his fist. Instead of hitting my mother, my father slipped on the bottle. Then...
Blood emerged from his mouth.
「 If I immediately called for help, he might’ve been able to live. 」
I felt clogged up.
「I was the only one who could save him and I chose not to. 」
This accident changed our lives.
「The words I told the child weren’t a lie. I was the one who killed him. 」
My mother took away the knife from the child who lost his mind. Then after a few deep breaths, she quietly woke me up.
「 “Dokja. From now on, I will read all of this again. 」
「 “Your father did something wrong and died. This was self-defense. Understood? 」
「 “No matter what, you must not forget that you are the victim.” 」
My mother’s voice permeated my ears.
「 Perhaps many things were decided at that time. 」
The mother searched for cases relating to murder and manipulated the evidence. She ruled out anything that could involve me. This ended up making the accidental death seem like a premeditated crime.
「 Someone has to live as a murderer. Someone else has to live as the son of a murderer. 」
Now I remembered.
“...It was because of this?”
I placed my hands on the wall and bowed my head for a while.
...In fact, I knew. I thought it might be this and it was the only reason that would make me understand my mother’s behaviour.
The reason why she suddenly wrote the essay was to make me the son of a murderer, not a murderer.
「 I often think about it. 」
「 Maybe it was all an excuse. 」
「 There could’ve been a better way. 」
「 No matter what, I shouldn’t have left the child alone. 」
「 As a mother, I shouldn’t have acted that way. 」
...
「 In the end, I’m just a mother who ran away. 」
This was the last sentence. I waited just in case, hitting the wall a few times. However, no more sentences appeared.
It shouldn’t be like this. In this way, I wouldn’t be able to hear the end of this ridiculous story.
“Spit her out! Spit her out!”
I started to frantically hit the wall.
“Fuck!”
The Fourth Wall licked my fists. The blood, memories and stories on my fist were sucked into the Fourth Wall. I didn’t cry.
「 Kim Dokja was crying. 」
The Fourth Wall said.
「 Kim Dokja quietly clenched his fists. 」
Bang!
「 He hit the wall. 」
Bang!
「 He hit it again. 」
“Fuck!”
「 Kim Dokja got goosebumps. Everything was becoming a story. All his actions and words in the scenarios were becoming sentences on the wall. 」
“Shut up!”
「 Kim Dokja wanted to know. What should he do? How could he break this wall? Was this the price for reading Ways of Survival? He read it and his reality became a novel. Then a noise like a page tearing was heard. 」
Jiiiiiik!
「 Kim Dokja thought... (Hey)... what is this? 」
I finally saw unnatural words on the wall. It was like graffiti left behind by someone who read the novel.
「 Kim Dokja was amazed... (Stay upright)... Who was talking to him? ...(This is your skill)... Who was it? ...(You shouldn’t be eaten by your skill)... What... (You idiot, quickly take off your hands!) 」
I saw that the wall was swallowing my fist.
「...(Turn the skill off, Kim Dokja)... 」
Enlightenment ran through my head. I didn’t know who I was talking to. I didn’t know if it was possible or not.
However, it was clear what I had to do. “I will turn off the Fourth Wall.”
An electric current flowed through the wall as it shook violently. For the first time, I felt something around me fading.
The wall was collapsing.
The next moment, a message was heard.
[The system error due to unknown causes is temporarily fixed.]
.
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[Your Attributes Window has been restored.]
[Do you want to check the Attributes Window now?]